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Our namesake Pvt. Henry Kalinowski, the first Ashtabula County Resident killed December 7, 1941, in WWII aboard the USS Arizona BB 39, along with SC2c Frank W. Steif, Jr., the 2nd Ashtabula Resident killed that day aboard the USS Shaw DD 373.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, as the Arizona was preparing to hoist her colors, Japanese aircraft swarmed through the sky, raking the battleship with machine gun bullets and dropping bombs and torpedoes. The sailors and Marines began racing for battle stations even as the ship's PA system blared General Quarters. The Marines manning the secondary five-inch batteries near the bow reported their readiness one by one, training out their guns to defend against torpedoes. First Sergeant Duveene and Gunnery Sergeant Walter Holzworth checked that all was ready; at around 0805, Duveene recognized Henry Kalinowski at his battle station and gave him the usual, Go Champion!' The five-inch guns were designed to intercept torpedoes, low-flying planes, and other ships. Though the Marine crews searched for targets, none would have been able to see (let alone take aim at) Lieutenant Shojira Kondo, who released an armor-piercing bomb from more than ten thousand feet in the air. Kondo's bomb struck the Arizona near Turret #2, penetrated four decks, and exploded with such force that the ship seemed to leap out of the water. The Marines in the gun casemates were either killed instantly or horrendously burned. PFC James Cory saw not only the explosion, but the effects on the Marines who were too close.
These people were zombies, in essence. They were burned completely white. Their skin was just as white as if you'd taken a bucket of whitewash and painted it white. Their hair was burned off; their eyebrows were burned off; the pitiful remains of their uniforms in their crotch was a charred remnant, and the insoles of their shoes was about the only thing that was left on these bodies. They were moving like robots, and they were stumbling around the decks.
Few if any of the Marines in the forward casemates survived. Henry Kalinowski was not among them. His remains were never recovered, and probably still lie at his battle station aboard the Arizona. Kalinowski was the first resident of Ashtabula to give his life in the Second World War. Marine Corps Detachment 782 was named for him in 1946; recently the stretch of Route 11 that passes through Ashtabula was renamed in his honor.
